What did Jesus have in mind exactly when he said “deny yourself and take up your cross.”. Especially the deny yourself part. He said that if you try to save your life you lose it, but if you lose your life for my sake, you gain it. My big idea lately, my take away with those words, is that in one sense Jesus was talking about instant gratification vs. delayed gratification. I think God loves us and wants us to be happy, so if we deny ourselves the instant gratification that most sin tempts us with, (Moses in Pharaoh’s palace for example) then we will be happier in the long run. How could we be happier than to be filled with the fruit of the spirit? It can take a while to get fruit from a newly planted sapling. We don’t get immediate gratification by planting a little apple tree or orange tree. We have to wait a year or two or three before we are gratified by a crunchy apple or a sweet orange. We do experience immediate gratification when we give in to the lust of the flesh, best defined in Galatians 5:19-21 (sexual immorality, impurity, debauchery, idolatry, hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions, envy, drunkenness, and orgies). Following those verses we are given a list of the Fruit of the Spirit (love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness and self-control). So we strive to deny the lusts of the flesh and instant gratification so that we reap the harvest of fruit that comes with waiting and abiding in Christ, and experience greater pleasure in the long run.

A question I have is how do you define Heart? It’s a vital concept to be considered in the Bible. After all, the first, greatest commandment says “Love God with all your heart.” Yet what is meant by Heart? It is a question I have asked myself many times. I think Heart refers to our desires and motivation. Many Christian writers through the ages have said that the base desire of all humans is to be happy. People desire that which will make them happy. People who have had the eyes of their hearts (desires) opened ( Ephesians one), realize that desiring God and His will is the ultimate road to happiness. We have this constant struggle between satisfying the desires of the flesh (which brings immediate gratification and is quickly lost) and desiring the things of God (delayed gratification in most cases, in which the happiness has an eternal effect). Ideally we deny the flesh and enjoy God.